1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of cargo transport. More specifically, the invention is directed to modular containers for use in facilitating the shipment of cargo by conventional truck trailers.
2. State of the Art
A significant portion of the cargo transported by conventional truck trailers is carried on behalf of shippers whose individual shipments require less carrying capacity than that afforded by an entire empty truck trailer. These types of shipments are known in the trade as "less than truckload" or "LTL" shipments.
Several substantial problems are created in the efficient handling of LTL freight shipments. Due to the logistics of handling these types of shipments, any particular shipment is oftentimes transferred several times from trailer to trailer before the shipment eventually reaches its destination. The multiple times which the shipment is handled not only creates significant labor costs, but furthermore such handling frequently results in damage or loss to the shipment. Billing errors which arise from misclassification of the shipment are another problem associated with the present methods of handling these types of shipments.
The costs associated with warehousing the shipment until it can be transferred to the next trailer also creates a significant overhead for handling these types of shipments. Furthermore, due to the odd sizes of many shipments of this type, it is also difficult to efficiently load a truck trailer to efficiently utilize the entire cargo space of the trailer.
There exists a need for container structures which are adapted for compartmentalizing LTL-type shipments so as to address the problems outlined above.